2014 Blog Project: Week 19

Ambition is a very personal thing. It requires dedication, desire and determination. You can have an "ambition in life", something you continuously strive for that has no real end. Sometimes you can have a particular goal to reach by a certain date. All ambition is, is dedication to a certain goal.

The goal can be focused, like an ambition to be published. You work for it and (hopefully) one day you can say you've done it and can check it off your list of things to accomplish. Many times however it can be something less concrete, like a desire to make people happy. People with that ambition don't go around taking a survey to make sure they've made everyone happy, they just do what they can towards that goal every day.

It can bring out a person's true colors. An ambition to have a particular material item, or a certain stance of power can bring out unsavory behavior and attitudes. Frequently you can then see it becoming an obsession and the ambition simply becomes "more". An ambition to bring about a positive change in society can have an impact on dozens (sometimes thousands) of people.

Just like dreams, ambitions can be short term or long term. I have long term ambitions to become a highly sought-after photographer and to be published someplace nationally. Every day I take little steps toward those goals. In the meantime however, I have a few other ambitions to focus on.

On September 6, 2014 Becky and I will be at Ringwood State Park in Ringwood, NJ doing mini-photo sessions with 100% of the proceeds going to Operation Smile. We've tried this in the past, but word never spread as much as I wanted it to. Now I have a great ambition to get this event to spread as much as possible. I want it on the local news, in the newspaper, all over Facebook -- all because my ambition is to raise as much money as we possibly can for Operation Smile. We are asking for a minimum donation of at least $30 per session, which would allow Becky and I EACH to raise enough money to pay for an operation once every two hours. Operation Smile is an organization that provides free surgeries to children and babies born with cleft palates and cleft lips all over the world. I had always known what Operation Smile did, but it wasn't until last fall when I saw one of their spokespeople talking about what an excellent organization they were, and that cleft lips and cleft palates can be fatal. I was instantly moved by the things he had to say an immediately my ambition became to use my photography to help change and possibly save some lives.

So this photo for ambition is part of the 3 ring circus that is my attempt at making this fundraiser a huge, well known annual event. Just the tip of the iceberg of papers, calendars, websites, forms, files, contacts, emails...all representing my ambition for the next 3 months.